Ingram the Conqueror: Monday to Friday May 13th to 17th, An Emotional Week :(

It seems that the emotions of Mother's Day continued to linger on through the week. We have been told that at some point everything would start to feel heavy because of our last thirteen months and it seems that the gravity of it all is hitting. We have definitely felt it at different points in Ingram's treatment and with each loss we have had within our St. Jude family for sure, but I don't know why it's happening like this right now except that we're just exhausted and everything is coming to the surface. We've trucked along for so long on auto pilot, but now it seems the truck is getting stuck in the mud for the time being.

Monday's highlight was running a "quick" errand with Ingram to Sports Authority. He loves going with Daddy to the store and now I know why even more. We walked the whole story even though what we were coming for (new running socks) was in the very front aisle. We hit golf balls, played with tennis rackets, tried out the boat toys, then headed around to all the other balls. We played with baseballs, basketballs, volleyballs, and soccer balls and finished out our hour long tour by punching the boxing bags. It was great and I now know why it takes Daddy forever to go to any kind of sports store.

Ingram loves all sports but asks daily when his next baseball game is and it was finally game night on Tuesday. He looks just so cute in his little Red Sox uniform and is even cuter running around the bases when he hits the ball. Of course, there was plenty of playing in the dirt during the game and it doesn't bother me one bit! The Rooker's came out to see his game and of course Ingram loved showing Mr. Brent how he plays baseball.

Wednesday was our normal St. Jude day, but it was anything but normal; it was actually a very rough day. We did get to paint glasses that are going to be sold and the money donated to SJ and also saw several friends including Mae, Bailey, and Josiah while we were there and it always is fun to see the kids happy and playing. The bad thing about seeing friends is that sometimes the news isn't good and that's what happened today. Our friend Bailey just had a set of scans and got the news that her tumor has come back. To say that they're upset is an understatement and once again we and many others are heartbroken; as for Bailey, she's a fireball and I'm sure will have her smile on again while she's undergoing treatment. They're in the process of doing more testing to see how they're going to treat her cancer this time so keep her and her family in your prayers. We also made a very last minute trip to Jackson after the girls got out of school to surprise Mimi for her birthday dinner. It was a good distraction from the day and the kids loved playing with their cousins, even if it was only for two hours.

It seems that since God knows everything already, he started sending encouragement our way by friends and strangers alike to help perk us up. Thursday, one of Ingram's friends sent home a gift from school and Ingram has been smiling ever since. It was a picture of Ingram and Nolan with their arms on each other's shoulders in a cute blue frame. They are best buddies and have been together since they were in the 1-year old class. His teachers sent home his "Memory Book" for this year and it was filled with pictures from his time at GBC from December to May. The first picture wasn't his typical "First Day Of School" picture, but it is definitely this year's first one...taken in December when he went back to school post treatment with a little bald head wearing his CONQUER shirt. That picture alone made me cry because it was anything but a normal "back to school" picture, not to mention the rest of the book.

By Friday, God once again knew that I needed some more comfort. Two different friends sent sweet messages with pictures that reminded me of His Faithfulness for Ingram. The first was a picture from the newspaper of Ingram (looking totally normal and like he had never been sick a day in his life) and two of his buddies at their preschool Field Day last week. The second picture was one that a friend found in her son's papers from school; Team Ingram was making an appearance in Crosswind Elementary, which is another local elementary school in town.

That's not even the end of the kindness that we're being shown! Our school had its "Jump Rope For Heart" Awards program for the Fourth and Fifth Graders today with the top fundraiser, Meia Farmer, raising $1000.00 for the American Heart Association. The PE teachers called us because when she went up to receive her prize (the coolest prize ever and wanted by all the 4th and 5th graders), she asked if she could give it to Ingram! We were floored by her sweetness especially because Meia had never even met Ingram or the girls and wanted to do something special for him anyway. We drove up to the school so that we could meet Meia and let Ingram thank her and of course take pictures with her; she has the sweetest heart, the biggest smile, and we felt so honored by her generosity.

We ended the roller coaster week on an even higher note with Lindsey's soccer team coming over for an end of the season pool party. In the midst of all the emotional craziness, it was really good to see all the girls and Ingram having so much fun! They went swimming and played on the playground and then they got really creative; they made a water slide with water from the pool on the playground slide then turned it into a mudslide. It was a nasty mess and they were all loving it. I guess whatever works sometimes is what you got to do...and they did it well!!